Trolley-guard.



J. A. LOVE,

TROLL-BY GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. a, 1914 1,125,353, Patented Jan.19,1915.

JUNIAUS A. LOVE, OF BOANOKE, VIRGINIA.

TROLLEY-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

Application filed September 8, 1914. Serial No. 860,729.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JUNIAUs A. Love, a citizen of the United States, residing at Roanoke, in the county of Roanoke and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Trolley-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to trolley guards designed to prevent the wheel of a trolley from jumping off of the wire, one of the objects of the invention being to provide a guard so mounted, that when the trolley cord is pulled for the purpose of lowering the trolley, the guard will first be shifted relatively to the trolley pole so as to become disengaged from the wire after which the wheel is free to move downwardly with the cord and away from the wire.

A further object is to provide a guard which, while allowing the wheel to move downwardly from the wire whenthe guard is moved to a predetermined position under the action of the trolley cord, will operate, while in its normal position to positively prevent displacement of the wheel relative to the wire.

A further object is to provide a guard which permits the ready placing of the wheel upon the wire.

lVith the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes inv the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed with out departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the ore ferred form of the invention has been shown. I

In said drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of the trolley wheel, the guard and the pole being shown in section on the line AB of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the trolley wheel, fork and guard. Fig. 3 is a section on the line CD of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section on the line EF of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a view showing diagrammatically the different positions to which each of the guard fingers may be moved.

(Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates the harp of the trolley supporting a bearing pin 2 on which is mounted the trolley wheel 8. A sutficient distance is provided between each finger of the harp and the adjacent side of the wheel 3 to receive a segmental plate 4 which is mounted to swing freely on the bearing pin 2 and has a depending arm 5 from which projects a laterally extending finger 6 ex tending across the lower portion of the grooved periphery of the wheel 3. The fingers 6 on the two arms 5 lap as shown and are secured together by means of rivets 7 or in any other suitable manner. These fingers are so located that they are capable of swinging freely within the harp. Additional fingers 8 extend inwardly from the plates 4 at the rear edges thereof and adjacent the upper portion of the wheel. these fingers 8 lapping and having registering openings therein, through which extends a ring 10 engaged by the trolley cord 11. A pm 12 connects the segmental plate closeto the fingers 8 and has a sleeve 13 loosely mounted thereon and constituting a roller.

A spiral spring 14 extends around the bearing pin 2 between each of the plates 4 at the adjacent side of the harp l and one end of each spring is secured to the harp while the other end is secured to the adiacent side plate 4. Thus it will be seen that the said plates 4 are held normally with their connected fingers 6 within the lower portion of the harp 1 and with the fingers 8 directly in rear of the wheel 3.

Mounted in each plate 4 at a point normally a short distance back of the vertical plane in which the axis of the wheel 3 is located, is a bushing 15 of insulating material, this bushing being provided with a slot 16. A slot shank 17 is slidably mounted in each slot 16 and is provided, at its outer end, witha cylindrical portion 18 and the head 19. A coiled spring 20 is mounted on the cylindrical portion 18 and bears at one end against the head 19 and at its other end against the bushing 15.

A wear plate 21 is mounted upon the inner end of each bushing 15 and the shank 17 extends loosely through it. The inner end of the shank 17 projects into and is pivotally connected to the forked inner end 22 of a retaining pin 23. The greater portion of. this retaining pin is cylindrical, the free end of the pin being tapered as shown at 24, while the inner or pivoted end is preferably substantially rectangular in outline so thati a flat bearing face 26 is normally pressed against the plate 21 by thespringQO; The:

two retaining fingers 23 are so proportioned that, when they are in their normal posi over but out of cont'act with. the wire, whilethe sleeve or roller 13 extends under but out.

of contact with the wirei Furthermore," the pivots at the inner ends of the retaining pins 23 extend upwardly along lines :radis ating' from, the bearing pin 2', so that, should the trolley wheel move downwardly. andcarry with it the plates land the parts connected thereto, the lower portions of. the pins 23 would strike the top of thewireWV Without, however, yielding upwardly, this being due tothe fact that the pivots at theinner ends of the pins 23 are extended substantially in the direction of such down-. ward movement of the wheel3. Should the car to which thetrolley is attached be moving forward during this downward move ment of the trolley wheel there would ofcourse be more or less drag upon the pins by the trolley wire but inasmuch asthe trolley wheel would immediately. spring upwardly after leaving. the wire, the. pins would not be in contact; with the wire WV 1a suflicient length of time to enable the wire to pull thepins out of retaining position. When, however, it is desired to remove the trolley from the wire, the cord 11 is pulled downwardly. As this-cord is connected to the guard, the plates 4 will be swung rearwardly and downwardly about the pin 2 so that the back portions of the pins 23 will be swung rearwardly and downwardly onto the wire which thus causes the'pins to swing upwardly about} their pivots and to slip downwardly past the wire; Afterthe plates 4 have reached the limits of their downward movement relative to the-harp 1, further pulling on the cord 11 will re'sultin. the low ering of the harpand'the disengagement of the wheel3 from the wire. When it is desired to replace the wheel upon the wire WV, the foregoing operation is reversed, the upper portions of thepi ns 23 striking againstthe lower portion of the wire and swinging downwardly about their pivots until they have slipped upwardly past the wire whereupon they will automatically assume positions across the top of the wire. As soon as tlieapins are thus positioned, and the plates dare j brought to their normal positions, the"whee1-3 will come into engagement .with'the wire. The sleeveor roller 13 limits "theforward swingingmoyement'of' the plates 4 relative torthe harp, by coming into contact with the wire.

The springs 20: are always "under compression and, as they constantly press againstthe head-19,they hold the fiat faces 26 of the pins 23 pressed firmly against the plates 2l. Consequently, whenthe pins 23 are shifted out of their normal positions in alinement with the shank 17, the corner portions of the forks 22 will push against the plates 21 and further compress the springs 20, so that, as soon as the pins 23 have been relieved of pressure, the said springs 20 will restore the pins to their normal or intermediate positions, as shown by full lines in Fig. 5. The position of each pin when moving into and outof engage ment with a wire has been indicated at a and b,.respectively in Fig. 5.

hat is claimed is-: v

1. In a. trolley, a harp, a trolley wheel, a structure mounted to swing freely within the harp, yielding means for holding said structure normally in a predetermined position relative to the harp,,yieldingly mount ed guard elements carried by the structure and adapted vvto extend over a wire, and means for rotating said structure relative to the harp to move: said elementsagainst and past the wire and to lower the harp and wheel. i v 2. In a trolley the combination with a harp, and a trolley wheel, a structure mounted .to swing freely within the harp and :extendingaupwardly past the sides of the wheehwyielding' means ,for holding said structure in a predetermined position relative to the. harp, a guard, element yieldingly and pivotally connected to. the structure and adapted to overhang a wire engaged by the wheel, said element constituting meansfor engagingtthe. Wire during the momentary downward movement of the harp to prevent displacement of the wheel from the wire, and means connected to the structure for successively rotating said structure relative ion wheel, the pivots of said members being nor mallyiso positioned as to prevent upward swinging, movement of the members. when brought againstthe wire during the moinenta'ry' downward jumping of 1 the wheel .from the wire, and means connected to said structuieior swinging the structure relative to the harp, thereby to shift the positions of the retaining members relative to the wire and drag them downwardly past the wire, said means constituting means for subsequently lowering the harp and wheel from the wire.

i. In a trolley, the combination with a harp and a trolley wheel, of a structure mounted to swing within the harp and at opposite sides of the wheel, yielding means for holding said structure normally in a predetermined position relative to the harp, a pivoted guard member carried by each side portion of the structure and normally extending over the wheel and adapted to extend over the wire engaged by the wheel, yielding means for holding said guard member normally projected inwardly substantially at right angles from the structure, the pivots of said guard members being normally so positioned as to resist upward swinging movement of the members when engaged by the wire during the momentary downward movement of the trolley harp, and means connected to said structure for successively swinging the structure relative to the harp and lowering the harp and wheel, the swinging of the structure being adapted to position the guard members against the wire to permit said members to slip past the wire.

5. In a trolley, the combination with a harp and a trolley wheel, of guard plates pivotally mounted within the harp at each side of the wheel, said plates being connected under the wheel, spring controlled retainin fingers pivotally and slidably connected to each guard plate and normally positioned above the wheel with pivots so located as to resist upward swinging movement of the fingers when pressed down wardly against the wire during the momen .tary downward jumping of the trolley wheel, and means connected to the guard plates for swinging said plates downwardly and rearwardly, therebv to shift the POSI- tion of the fingers to permit said fingers to slip past the wire, said last mentioned means being adapted to lower the wheel from the wire.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aHiXed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

J UNIAUS A. LOVE.

Witnesses:

L. B. CABANIss, W. L. Anonnws.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

